Strength
by 53N0
Summary: What is strength? To ability to protect? To conquer? The power to change the world? How does one become strong? Training? Being beaten and broken until you cannot feel pain? Natural ability? What defines strength and what makes one strong?
1. Chapter 1

Naruto Uzumaki, was angry. He was standing beside his teacher Jiraiya on the side of the road. It had only been a week since he and his teacher left Konoha on a training trip but there was a snag in his plan to get awesome Jutsu and bring Sasuke back.

"What the hell do you mean you aren't going to teach me anything?!" He demanded as his teacher stood silently with a serious expression that was unusual for the lecherous man.

"I won't teach you anything until we refine what you already have. Your Taijutsu is you just spamming clones, wasting tons of chakra that isn't yours." He'd felt the clones and they were in truth, made mostly of the Kyūbi's chakra. Only the tiniest fraction was actually Naruto's chakra, in truth the boy would only make about a few dozen before he hit chakra exhaustion. "You need a clone to use the **Rasengan**, wasting half of your chakra since you don't have it do anything else." Or, he would if the Fox didn't interfere.

Naruto flinched at that. A bit because it was true and a bit more because that was really all that he had. "Well it's worked so far…" He grumbled, not paying attention to the comment about his clones.

"I beg to differ." Jiraiya argued. "Against that Hyūga kid you needed the fox's chakra to just barely pull out a win, then again with that Gaara boy, on some mission way earlier too, and even more times since then." His eyes hardened. "You can't rely on the fox forever Naruto."

Naruto grit his teeth. "I don't need the fox!"

"You aren't doing a good job proving that. You're making it even worse by arguing that your **Shadow Clones** make a difference, those are mostly made of the Kyūbi's chakra, not yours!" Jiraiya said coldly, he may have _said_ that he would except Naruto being an idiot but he wouldn't. He would beat the idiocy out of Naruto and make him the legend he was destined to be.

Starting with his awful standards for strength.

Naruto opened his mouth but closed it immediately afterwards. "…My Shadow Clones…aren't mine?" He said slowly, as if it was a foreign concept he couldn't accept. It was, the **Shadow Clone** had been the first thing he ever learned and to learn that it wasn't actually capable of using it…

"Not exactly…you could make maybe, fifty before you get chakra exhaustion. The fox puts out the chakra so that you don't use as much for each." It was a real blow to the kid's pride, he knew, but the first step in growing was to get knocked down. Then it was a matter of picking yourself up for the next one.

Still. _Why does the Fox do that?_ Wouldn't it be better for it if Naruto died? Sure it would take a few years for it to reform, but that didn't really matter for a Bijū.

"…Where do we start?" Naruto asked after a moment.

"Chakra Control and the **Rasengan**." Jiraiya began. "When you can make a **Rasengan** with one hand you'll have good enough control for most Jutsu. Just try to make one with one hand for a few minutes a day, the rest of the day we spar until you can fight right."

"Without clones…? And what do you mean 'until you can fight right'?! I kick ass!"

"No clones, and you kicking ass? You spam clones and swarm people. What part of that is you 'kicking ass'?" That caused a flinch from the boy, recent revelation about clones not helping.

Naruto sighed and nodded. If he was going to get strong enough to bring Sasuke back he would need to be as strong as possible. Sasuke wouldn't be training any easier than he used to so he needed to train twice as hard. Putting a grin on his face he reached his hands out and placed one over the other, he couldn't use a clone and he actually doubted he could do it with one hand. "Alright! Lets do this!"

"Good. Now first, instead of making a **Rasengan**, just make a ball of chakra and then spin it." The sage instructed.

Naruto raised a brow. "But-"

"Just listen to me kid, I know what I'm doing." It was easier to make the **Rasengan** if he learned to do that first anyways.

Naruto rolled his eyes but did as he was told…it was actually hard to just make a ball of chakra…very hard to make it. "What the hell?"

"Your control isn't good enough kid, the **Rasengan** is all about control and honestly, your control is so shitty I'm amazed yours haven't blown up in your face yet. Lucky for you, since if they had you wouldn't be alive right now." Jiraiya lectured. "At the very least you would've had your arm ripped to shreds."

Naruto swallowed hard. "So this entire time…?"

"You've been using a pretty much suicide move, it's a given since its an A-rank Jutsu made to drill opponents into bloody chunks." Jiraiya said as he looked to the sky. "Still, you'll be able to really use it one day kid." He would've thought Naruto was smart enough to train with the **Rasengan** until he could use it one-handed and without a clone, but the kid proved him wrong.

_That doesn't make me feel any better._ Naruto thought angrily. _I worked my ass off to learn that and you're saying its crap._

"Focus kid." Jiraiya said without looking.

Naruto focused on his hands to see the ball he was trying to form destabilizing. "Damn it!" Sending more chakra into the ball it semi-stabilized, still attempting to fade from existence.

Jiraiya felt Naruto's reserves dropping at a moderate pace, despite not being the best sensor without **Sage Mode** active, he could feel the drain on Naruto's Jōnin-level reserves. _I'll have to stop him soon, don't want his chakra to grow past Jōnin unless he can actually control it. _He thought.

Power was nothing without control after all, and it was pretty hard to learn to control an ever growing power.

"Alright kid, that's enough for today." Jiraiya said after a few minutes. "We'll spar from here on."

Naruto scowled, he was so close to making the ball. "I just need another second to make this." He grunted, feeling his chakra getting very low.

"Naruto we have three years of training and we aren't going to be doing anything besides sparring for a while."

Naruto took a moment before nodding, letting his chakra stop flowing and allowing the object to fade from existence. "Alright." He said while turning his gaze to Jiraiya, only to see a fist sailing right towards his face.

"What the-?" Was all he got out before he was sent flying back from the blow to his face. When he finally stopped he was writhing on the floor, hands covering his face. "Ow! What the hell?!"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "That couldn't even be called a love tap to an S-rank ninja, if you're going to become the Hokage you'll need to be able to take that and hit back twice as hard." He didn't say dodge because Naruto wasn't really a 'dodging' person, the kid just took hits and gave back what he got.

"Why the hell did you punch me out of nowhere for?!" Naruto demanded as he slowly took his hands off of his face, showing a growing bruise on his cheek.

Jiraiya grinned while cracking his knuckles. "You don't dodge, you get hit and hit people back. To help you with that, I'm going to beat the hell out of you until you can shrug off anything…ready?" He asked as he crouched.

Naruto didn't even get the chance to respond before a foot connected with his chest and sent him flying through a tree.

_Oh yeah, I'm really gonna beat the stupid out of this kid._ Jiraiya thought as he advanced towards Naruto. _If I'm lucky, I might make him smart._ He sighed and shook his head. _Baby steps Jiraiya, baby steps._

It would be a long, _long_ three years for Naruto, he'd make damn sure of that. On another note, this would hurt like hell for the kid when he started using Senjutsu.

/ XXX XXX /

"Okay!" Jiraiya said gleefully as he and Naruto relaxed in an inn. They were currently sitting across from each other, himself with his back against the wall and his student laying on the floor covered in bruises. "It's been a few weeks and you can at least not cry when I hit you. You can make the 'ball' part of the **Rasengan** too."

It wasn't really much progress for an half a month, but it was something.

"Fuck you." Naruto cursed. What part of getting the tar beaten out of him was training?!

"Now you need to focus on making the ball spin, then adding the concentration, and finally making it as fast as you can. When you can do all that in under a second, you'll have good enough control that we can start working on other things!" Jiraiya announced while ignoring Naruto's comment. "Now remember Naruto, until I say you're good enough only try to make one for ten minutes."

Naruto clicked his teeth. "Fine." He knew that, he wasn't stupid enough to ignore chakra exhaustion.

"Good…and Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"When you can make a **Rasengan** one-handed I'll put a **Five Element Seal** on you, then you have to work until you can make it again." Jiraiya announced with a grin, he would make the boy as good as a Hyūga in chakra control.

"What?!" Naruto demanded. "What the hell is the point in training if I have to start over when I'm done?!"

Jiraiya frowned. _He has a point, that will just waste time._ "Alright kid I give, get your ass over here so I can put the seal on you right now."

Naruto's grin at the thought of not having that particular seal on him again turned into a look of horror when his teacher motioned him over. "Huh? No!" He denied while scooting away.

"Don't argue with me brat! This is a part of your training!"

"How the hell is that training?!" Naruto argued.

Jiraiya sighed, why the hell couldn't the kid have any faith? "Think of it this way, it'll keep the Fox from doing anything and it'll make your control training much more meaningful when I take it off." He explained.

"Oh…" Naruto muttered as he took in the facts. He didn't like the idea but he couldn't argue that it would help.

Literally _everyone_ always told him that he needed better control or that his sucked. Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke at one point, Iruka, even Kiba said it at one point.

"Alright." He said resignedly as he stood and walked over to his teacher while lifting his shirt and jacket up.

Jiraiya himself stood and held his hand out to the side as blue flames ignited on his fingertips, then kanji appeared within the flames. "Seal." In a moment the seal appeared and he slammed his hand reinforced the seal.

The odd and even styled seals would conflict with each other but thankfully the only affects would be beneficial to Naruto's training. The Kyūbi's chakra couldn't be accessed or purified and fed to Naruto's reserves, and Naruto's chakra control would be shot.

His chakra wouldn't grow disproportionately anymore and his control would be much better after training.

Naruto bent over as the wind rushed out of his lungs, he felt tired suddenly. Without any extra chakra flowing through him he felt weaker too.

At the same time he felt curious, unlike the last time he wasn't prepared and instantly knocked unconscious by the seal, both when it was applied and removed. Now though, he felt confused by just how things changed in an instant, how much weaker he felt.

As he passed out he thought, _Damn, what is this and when I learn it?_

* * *

><p>Deep within the confines of Naruto's seal a single red eye snapped open, then narrowed. The bars before it seemed different.<p>

_This feeling…_ A while ago the same thing happened…what was it again?

An ethereal tendril of red chakra slithered towards the bars and prodded at them. _Nothing new there._ A prod between the bars showed the difference, the tendril was blocked, kanji appearing at each corner of the gate before the eye and one kanji appearing in the center.

_This is…a **Five Elements Seal**._ Why? _…Most likely that toad-human, I doubt the snake one would be allowed near him again. Training perhaps? Without my power and with his coils cluttered he would grow tremendously in his control over his own._

It was acceptable, for now. Over-reliance on power not one's own lead to the downfall of many warriors in history when they became arrogant or greedy. The eye gave one last look for changes before closing.

The seal would be removed in time, until then the only thing to do was wait.

* * *

><p>The Hyūga clan grounds were traditional, houses were wooden, walls of paper. The clan was split into two factions; Main and Branch. At the head of the main branch was Hiashi Hyūga, the clan head, and next in line for his position were his daughters Hinata and Hanabi.<p>

The favorite was his younger daughter, Hanabi. Where Hinata was weak Hanabi was strong, where Hinata faltered Hanabi struck true, and where Hinata backed down Hanabi would stand tall. It was odd that despite a three-year difference in age the younger would be much more preferred than the older, but such was inevitable when the older was an embarrassment to the entire clans ideals.

Hiashi was indifferent to such matters, preferring to see the potential people had, and his eldest's potential was completely reliant on whether or not a boy with little tact would notice her presence, even then if he didn't react well then she would lose all potential.

This was why he had his clansmen holding her down as the seal marking her as a Branch member was applied to her. He hated to do this to his daughter but it was for the good of the clan that she not be the next head, he just hoped she would forgive him one day. Next to him was his younger daughter Hanabi who was watching with wide eyes.

"Father…" His youngest muttered quietly.

"It is in the best interest of the clan that you become the next head Hanabi." He explained.

Hanabi nodded slightly, having taken on a bit of her father's views on potential she knew this would happen eventually. It didn't mean she approved of it.

A common misconception was that she and her sister had completely different ideals. No, they both had the ideals of wanting a single, unified Hyūga. The only difference is she wasn't so stupid to think she could make it happen without being vocal about it, not to mention she didn't follow around a boy that didn't even notice she was there most of the time.

_Why does sister follow him around?_ She thought suddenly. _Does she was to spar with him? No, she faints whenever she talks to him if what she mutters sometimes is true._

Could it be that she wanted to train with him? _He did beat Neji, as well as that boy from Suna if Neji was right…I think he was also the one to bring back the current Hokage. _Such feats would make him a great person to train with… _Didn't he leave on a training trip with a Sannin recently?_

He would be very strong when he returned from that trip. _I should ask him for training when he returns, he would have a lot to teach me if he trains under a Sannin for even a year._

"Father!" Hinata suddenly called, drawing her attention. "Why?!" She saw her sister demand with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked before her father could speak. "I train while you spend your days cowering and following a boy that never notices you." It was common sense.

Say you have to choose between an old sword and a new knife, would you choose a sword that is dull and chipped or a knife that is sharp and durable?

"While that is not the entire reason, that is true." Hiashi agreed. "Hanabi is the better choice to be heir of the clan, I've given you years to prove yourself but you have only done one act that would prove you are worthy to be the heir." He paused. "In comparison Hanabi has been dutiful in her studies and training, showing a high potential as heir. Far higher than your own."

Potential was decided by how hard one worked, how well they used the tools at their disposal, and by how they could adapt. Hinata trained just hard enough to keep herself in the running, but she hardly asked for help from those in the clan and didn't change her ways to become outspoken.

Despite the clan being very harsh they gave her chances to become friends with her fellow clan heirs and even encouraged it. She wasted that time following a boy she never even introduced herself to.

"I'll try harder!" Hinata pleaded.

Hiashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them with a look of cold indifference. "I have given you _years_ to do so. You squandered them. This is your reward." With a nod the member of the Main Branch behind his daughter made a hand-sign and began applying the seal.

Hanabi watched as her sister screamed, sad but mostly indifferent. The act did little but reinforce her ideals for a unified Hyūga clan, after all, if they hurt and cripple each other's potentials then how long did their clan have left before they were all killed in battle, or a Branch member refused to be a slave and repeated the Uchiha massacre?

As the new heir she needed to be strong for the Hyūga clan, she also needed allies if her plan was to work. The boy her sister followed around wanted to be the Hokage and with training from a Sannin he would be a powerful one. He would be the perfect person to teach her and if he became the Hokage, he would be her greatest ally.

_Befriending him and becoming his student will take planing._ She thought as she left the room, having been dismissed after her sister was taken away. _First I need information; likes, dislikes, things to watch out for. Then getting the good graces of those he knows._


	2. Chapter 2

_Two months. _Jiraiya lamented. _It took two months for him to relearn the Tree-walking exercise._

Of course, that was the entire reason behind placing the **Five Elements Seal **on him, it would make his control terrible. A common misconception was that with less chakra, it was easier to control. That was false, a person could only do that if they had previously controlled that amount of chakra before. In Naruto's case, he hadn't had that little at his disposal since he was about seven.

Then came the effect of the seals being stacked on top of each other, whenever the **Eight Trigrams Seal** purified some of the Kyūbi's chakra and tried to give it to Naruto the **Five Elements Seal** would tighten around Naruto's chakra core, both making it harder for him to use his chakra momentarily and sending the purified chakra back into the seal.

This process left many questions for the Toad Sage, for one, what happened to the purified chakra after it was returned? Did the Kyūbi absorb it? Did it stay separate in wait for the day that the seal was lifted, at which point all of it would rush into Naruto at once? What would happen if it did all rush into Naruto at once? Would he be able to take it or would he become a human explosive-tag? He more he thought about the possible consequences the less Jiraiya wanted to release the seal.

_I really shouldn't have put that on. _He berated himself, while it was a good idea and he knew that it wouldn't interfere with the **Eight Trigrams Seal** in any way he never accounted for the fact that it might send the chakra back into the seal. Now the Kyūbi had free chakra to mess with the seal!

He wasn't stupid enough to think the Kyūbi couldn't know a thing about seals, it had two seal _masters_ for Jinchuriki, one of which never truly sealed it within her but instead used a half-assed seal and her special chakra-formed chains. If someone was good enough at absorbing chakra they were capable of copying memories with it, it was made of physical and spiritual energy after all, and the spirit was tempered by experience.

"Hey Perv-sage! Are you listening?!" Naruto's voice suddenly rang, driving Jiraiya from his musings.

"Damn it kid! I told you to stop calling me that!" He shouted irritably. He fought in two of the three ninja wars, trained a Kage, ran the spy network Konoha was saved by hundreds of times, and could handle multiple S-ranked ninja at once! He deserved his respect damn it!

"Whatever, we're here!" Naruto announced, motioning at the massive lake before them. They were currently in Water Country, having been walking through Konoha for the entire first two months of their journey, then having taken a boat to the country.

Jiraiya grinned a little, "Alright, now get to work kid."

"Huh?" Naruto asked blankly.

Jiraiya face-palmed. "The Water-walking exercise dumbass! It's the entire reason we came here!"

"I'm sorry, no one told me why we came!" Naruto shouted back in anger.

"It's _Water _Country Naruto." Jiraiya said slowly, "What other training is there that I could have you do here?!"

Naruto grumbled as he started taking his jacket off. "I thought we came so you can make a treaty or something with Kiri, or at least talk to the new Mizukage." He explained.

"Well, I would if I had any guarantee that I wouldn't be killed on sight." Jiraiya answered, he then paused. "Wait…how do you know that Kiri is under new management?"

"Oh, me and Mei-chan are friends." Naruto answered while picking his jacket back up and reaching inside for something.

"'Mei-chan'?"

Naruto grabbed something from a pocket of his jacket and pulled it out, showing it was a small picture-frame. He handed it off to Jiraiya while explaining. "Mei-chan is the new Mizukage."

Jiraiya blanched. His student and the Mizukage were friends. He then turned his eyes down to the picture and smiled lecherously, the woman in the picture was no doubt sexy as Naruto said. Mei is a slender woman. She has green eyes and ankle-length, auburn hair with a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two bangs are short with one covering her right eye, and two are long, crossing each other on her bust, just below her chin.

She wears a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that falls just below the knees. It seemed to be closed at the front by a zipper but kept open from the waist down on the front-right side. The dress only covers up to the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts, underneath which, is mesh armour that covers slightly more of her upper body than her dress. She also wears shorts in the same colour as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Around her waist she wears a belt with a pouch attached to the back left, along with high-heeled sandals and shin-guards reaching up over her knees. Her nails all painted with dark blue polish, and her lips with dark blue lipstick.

Naruto watched as Jiraiya's jaw dropped before taking the picture-frame back and once again shoving it back into his jacket. "She's nice, don't think she would mind having an alliance with Konoha."

Jiraiya shook his head. He couldn't lie and say the woman wasn't great eye-candy, _Damn fine eye candy, _but he doubted any friendship was mutual. "Say kid, how'd you end up being friends with that fine piece of ass?"

Naruto blinked but shrugged at the question's wording, "Well, it all started a while back. As in, a long while back. During the Wave Mission." Naruto began.

"I heard about that, your team ended up fighting Zabuza Momochi and his partner…to the death."

Naruto nodded while slowly walking towards the water of the lake. "Yeah. His partner, Haku, was a nice guy despite trying to kill us. Before he died he told me the story about how he was from Kiri and that his mother was killed for having a bloodline, and that the place was in the middle of a civil war. After we got back I decided to look into what was happening…" A bitter smile made its way to his face at that moment. "The war ended with the rebels winning just two days before Haku died."

Naruto shook his head. "Anyway, the new Mizukage was supposed to be someone that wanted to stop the 'bloodline purge'…or whatever it was called." He paused when his foot sunk into the water, then continued when he pulled it out and started over. "I asked Tazuna, the carpenter we had to protect in Wave, to help them out if they needed it…turns out their village was completely wrecked and it was the biggest contract Tazuna had ever gotten in his life. He actually sent me a box of imported sake from Kiri as thanks, something about 'old enough to kill, old enough to drink'."

"That rule hasn't been used in decades." Jiraiya interrupted. "Not since I was a kid and every Gennin there was were alcoholics or addicted to smoking."

Naruto stared at him for a long moment as he slipped into the water. "I guess you never stopped being an alcoholic." He remarked. "Anyway…after a while I got a message from Mei thanking me for helping them get a great carpenter to rebuild the destroyed parts of Kiri. I sent a message back saying no problem and to just send a letter if she needed something, I think this was a bit after I helped that one lady…Koyuki?"

"Koyuki Kazehana, the daimyo of Snow County?" Jiraiya asked for clarification.

"Yeah!" Naruto assented. "It was a little while after that when we started sending letters to each other, she would ask about what I've done and I would ask the same. In the beginning she'd ask stuff about the village too, like how many Jōnin there were, how strong they were…"

"Naruto." Jiraiya interrupted seriously, the boys attention instantly flew to him. "I need you to tell me exactly what you told her when she asked those questions."

Naruto raised a brow but answered. "I answered that there were to a of Jōnin and Anbu, and that they were really strong. I mean, look at Kakashi! He would beat me like its nothing and I beat Gaara when he was all Shukaku'ed and stuff! If he's just a Jōnin then imagine what an Anbu is like!"

Jiraiya couldn't help but wonder if Naruto was incredibly stupid…or subconscious genius. _The kid spread counter-intelligence with complete belief in what he was saying. _He thought astonished.

Naruto slowly turned to Jiraiya when he heard the man start laughing like a madman. "Hey! Did you snap Perv-sage?!"

Jiraiya just kept laughing hysterically at what was possibly the oddest form of counter-intelligence he'd ever heard of: having a dumbass talk to a Kage through letters and answering intelligence-gathering questions wrong with complete honesty.

It was certainly something for the record books.

* * *

><p>A single, slitted, red eye stared coldly at the many amber-colored globules of energy floating just beyond the cage doors. <em>I can use this.<em> It's owner thought as a fanged grin began to show in the dark._ So may possibilities…so little time._

After a moment a single globule twitched making the grin fade and the eye narrow. _I suppose I need to train in the use of my power when completely disconnected from me._ It wasn't unreasonable, the globules weren't supposed to be there in the first place. They were supposed to be absorbed the moment they were created, but with this technical barrier stopping them from being absorbed they simply floated along without aim.

If they could be controlled however, many possibilities would open up.

The eye slowly closed as a globule would occasionally twitch in one direction or another. It would take a long time of training to exert will in such a way, but time was inconsequential. If it was needed, the second seal would be broken to allow much easier exertion on the globules, if the second seal wasn't broken then everything was completely fine.

Time was of no essence.

* * *

><p>Hanabi was frowning, no, she was outright scowling at the files in front of her. Idly, she noticed her cousin Neji sitting with his mouth agape and her father in somewhat the same condition, albeit less shown. Neji had taken the liberty of getting the files, copies but files no less, on what missions Naruto Uzumaki had taken after she showed an interest in training under him when said boy returned. Her father decided to see them as well to judge how fitting of a teacher he would be.<p>

A list of missions in which he helped several daimyo, ended two rebellions, ended the usurping of one of said daimyo's thrones, saved multiple countries, and helped many more, was the least of what any of them had been expecting.

"I'd say you've chosen a rather…well-connected teacher, Hanabi." Hiashi spoke while attempting to keep the incredulity out of his tone. "That said…how hasn't the Hokage made treaties with these countries yet?"

Neji sent his uncle a deadpan look while holding up three fingers…two fingers…one finger.

"**Wake up!**" Was the shout heard all throughout the village at that exact moment, originating from the Hokage Tower.

"Our Hokage is an alcoholic gambler." Neji informed his uncle.

"…Noted." Hiashi muttered while placing his head on his palm.

Hanabi grabbed a copy of a report and began reading it to herself. "Neji, who is Raiga?"

"One of the seven swordsmen of Kiri." Hiashi answered. "Why?"

"Neji was on a team that defeated him, mainly due to Naruto Uzumaki." Hanabi explained.

Neji nodded. "I remember. He had a companion named Ranmaru that could make Genjutsu my Byakugan could not see through. If I remember correctly, said companion now works at a curry shop."

Hiashi stared blankly at Neji, a look matched by Hanabi. "A boy that could make Genjutsu…that the Byakugan could not pierce." Hiashi clarified.

"Yes." Neji confirmed.

"Hanabi, another report if you would." Hiashi asked while placing his hand out. His youngest chose a random report and he skimmed through it. "He helped a girl…that could warp reality with nothing but Genjutsu."

Neji and Hanabi stared at him incredulously. It was then that Neji himself grabbed a report and skimmed it. "Helped retrieve the personal weapon of the second Hokage…the Raijin."

Hanabi stared at the mass of reports before them. "I believe that by the time these are all read through, I will have a chosen teacher."

"You would be correct." Hiashi agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

Jiraiya was confused, well not confused but cautious…well actually both. He and Naruto were currently walking through Kiri with some drunkard and…twenty Hunters following them. Originally they were going to be forced to run like hell, until the drunkard came up and started talking to Naruto like they were old friends. He guessed it was Tazuna because he asked 'how was the sake'.

"So Naruto, how've ya been?" The drunkard drawled.

Naruto grinned widely. "I've been great Tazuna!" He replied. "Did you get my last letter?"

"Yeah." Tazuna answered while reaching into his pocket, he then pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper and waved it slightly. "I've got it right here. Careful when you send the messenger ninja though, the last few almost got killed." He warned.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly at that. "Oh…sorry." He muttered.

Tazuna waved it off. "It's fine, anyway, that Mei woman wants to meet you as soon as possible." He informed the blond.

Naruto snickered. "That's Mei, she hates to wait ya know?"

Tazuna smirked. "Yeah, she keeps riding me about building faster." He admitted but then joked. "You can't rush perfection." He then looked behind himself at the white-haired man Naruto was with. "Is that the Jiraiya guy you're training under?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, he wanted to talk to Mei about a treaty. Weird…he's usually talks to himself or stares at girls when I'm not training."

"Really…" Tazuna murmured while sending a small glare in Jiraiya's direction, of course, he made sure Naruto didn't notice.

Back when he hired Naruto, he knew jack shit about politics, ninja politics, economical requirements and resources, psychology, and even how the world worked beyond what he needed to as a carpenter and family man. That stopped when he was made the 'daimyo' of Wave and then made a treaty with a ninja village.

Honestly it was the harshest crash-course on anything he had ever been through. He learned about village histories, why who hated who, what treaties were just slips of paper, and how to read a person. That was only politics and psychology. He also had to learn about managing an entire country, it's dealings, economy, economical value compared to other countries, what resources others might try to take over for, everything he needed to know.

Now he had to think fast, there was a ninja of unknown strength walking through an ally village with unknown intent besides presumably wanting to make a treaty, the only thing he knew about the man was he could summon toads and he was strong enough to be trusted in training his villages sole Jinchuriki. The fact that he was confidently walking through a potentially enemy village, even if having well-hidden caution, said a lot for the man's unknown skills. The confidence rolling off of him was incredible for his situation.

While Tazuna was trying to figure out Jiraiya's skills and current mindset, the Toad Sage was having his own thoughts. _Okay, in an enemy village with unknown numbers that are certainly over the thousands, my ticket in will probably be escorted away to safety before I could reach him, and I don't think I could win. Thank god for my practice in bluffing. _He thought. All in all, he didn't have a chance at winning. He could run but the problem would be getting Naruto before he had a toad **Reverse Summon** him.

Something darted out of the corner of his eye and his gaze instantly shot to it…a Hunter? No. He didn't wear the Hunter armor. _A watcher then._ He confirmed to himself. He needed to keep a closer eye on that man than the Hunters, while they may be strong in their own rights this man would obviously be a confidant of the Mizukage making him much more dangerous.

Naruto looked around with an excited smile. "Wow, this is the third village I've been to and it's way different than the others!" He exclaimed, dragging both men from their thoughts.

"Different?" Tazuna asked, "How?"

"Well…Taki had small buildings made of wood and Konoha has…block-buildings. You have cylinder ones here." Naruto explained simply, too simply.

"…Uh, right." Tazuna agreed, slowing his pace slightly to walk beside Jiraiya. "You got a lot of hard work ahead of you if you're gonna beat the stupid out of him."

Jiraiya nodded with a sigh. "It could be worse." He excused. "He could have the mind of a two-year-old."

Tazuna nodded while gazing forward at the boy. "No doubt about that being worse, still, if you manage to do it I'll buy you a brothel."

"Don't you mean a girl?" Jiraiya asked.

"No, a brothel. You might get paid a lot bein' a ninja and all, but that isn't much compared to the guy who runs an exporting country." Tazuna said with a smirk. "Especially when you're making yourself a decent transport country too."

That surprised Jiraiya a bit but after a moment he nodded. "Deal. Hey Naruto!" He called while sending a glare at the boy who was about to wander off down another street.

"What!?" The blond called back.

"Wrong way jackass!"

"…A lot of work ahead of you." Tazuna remarked as Naruto returned to the correct path.

Jiraiya just groaned.

* * *

><p>Jiraiya sat straight up while sitting outside the office of the Mizukage, he could tell there were only ten Hunters in the room…but each of them likely had bloodlines. It made sense since the Mizukage was a woman who wanted to end the purges and that bloodline users were proven to be much more dangerous than ordinary ninja. At least fifty-percent of the time a bloodline user could kill on average twice as much ninja as the norm.<p>

Now Jiraiya had done preparations before coming within radius of the village so all he needed to do was **Summon **a toad and he, and Naruto, would be **Reverse Summoned** out of danger. "Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah Perv-sage?" It took all of Jiraiya's will not to kick the boy across the room for showing such disrespect in the middle of enemy territory, their most guarded building no less!

"Are you sure that you're good friends with the Mizukage?" He asked, if nothing else than to reassure himself that the kid wasn't just blowing out hot air.

"Yeah." Naruto answered. "Why?"

"No reason." Jiraiya excused. "Now, remember Naruto, even if you're friends you need to be on your best behavior because we're dealing with a Kage. That means none of that demeaning crap you usually call me."

Naruto scowled but nonetheless grumbled a positive answer. "Fine."

XXX XXX

Meanwhile behind the door a tall man with blue, moussed-up hair, was holding a teen with short, furry blue hair by the scruff of his shirt. "She did what?" The man demanded.

His left eye was blue and his right eye was covered by an eye-patch. He wore a talisman in each ear with the kanji for a humble form of 'to hear' written on them twice on each side. He also wore the standard striped, grey suit, with a green haori that had white trimmings that stop halfway down, over them.

"She left!" The boy said fearfully. He had pointed, shark-like teeth common for a person of his position. He wears square, black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors, a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants. On his back was a bundle wrapped in bandages leaving only a double hilt visible. He also has shuriken holsters strapped onto each of his legs.

The man dropped him and sighed irritably, beginning to rub the bridge of his nose in an effort to stem a growing headache. "Our Kage is away and we have a foreign dignitary right outside the door- one of the Sannin no less!" He growled. "If this goes as badly as it can, we won't even be able to properly get our foot in the political door before we're a laughingstock! Go find her!" He ordered the boy.

"R-right!" The teen stuttered before running towards the door.

Only for the man to grab him by the arm and throw him through a suddenly open window. "Not that way you jackass!" He roared before flinging the teen away. It was only a matter of moments before the teen vanished and the man collapsed into the chair reserved for his Kage. "Back in my day this never would've happened, the dignitaries would've been dragged before the Kage even if we had to chop their legs off."

* * *

><p>"Um…Mei?" Naruto asked while idly drinking from a bottle of water.<p>

"Yes Naruto?" A rather plain woman asked, she had brown hair and eyes, looked about average and had a simple blue dress. A person you would just pass over if you ever saw her.

"Why are we under **Transformations**?" Naruto asked, he himself looked like a nondescript teen who could pass as a friend of the woman next to him. Black hair, green eyes, brownish clothes not unfit for a worker.

The woman sighed. "Well, you said that your teacher was coming as well. If I hadn't taken you and snuck off then we wouldn't have had time to actually talk face-to-face, well, without being monitored." She explained.

"Oh." Naruto murmured.

He had been taken when he went towards another street, he'd simply felt something calling him and headed towards it. It was only for a moment that he saw Mei smiling down at him before he was pulled into a hug, oddly enough she was kneeling a bit and his head was forced to her prominent chest, before she used the very same Jutsu that had been his staple and sent it off disguised as him under the same Jutsu they were currently hiding under.

He shrugged and continued sipping at his water. "So we're just going to hang out for a while until people come looking for us?"

"More or less, but we'll also be enjoying ourselves." Mei said while holding up a roll of high-numbered bills, a smirk tugging at her lips. "On me."

Naruto shook his head, pulling out his own toad-themed wallet and opening it up. It seemed empty but he reached inside and flared a very small bit of chakra, as little as he possibly could in his current state, and in a plume of smoke a roll of bills identical to Mei's but slightly larger in amount appeared in his hand. "I can pay for myself." Naruto said. "Just don't tell Perv-sage or he'll steal my money again."

Mei grinned and stood, patting any dust off of her dress. "Then lets to have some fun." She exclaimed while grabbing his arm and pulling him along excitedly. It had been years since she had any actual interaction besides that of leader and subordinate, Naruto was going to be a breath of fresh air in her dulling life.

The constant meetings, the paperwork, the political work between her own people, managing an economy, assigning high-ranked missions, getting reports for off-the-book missions, and many other repetitive tasks assigned with the position of Kage had made her life a boring hell and completely murdered her social life beyond her advisor Ao. Ao didn't count though.

Then came the day where Tazuna came looking for work, when they needed a well-versed carpenter badly. That lead to an alliance with a budding nation that she was sure had the means of becoming an economical titan if it had a good shipping industry and her own ninja as guards. Then came word of Naruto and the need to research the one who made their alliance possible. Getting eye-witness accounts from most countries was easy as long as the persons involved with his missions weren't constantly on the move. His antics, his sense of honor and loyalty, his personality, even his clothes made him what would be considered a laughingstock among higher ninja.

Yet he was a damn success! He'd stumbled into more political explosive-tags, village emergencies, and overpowered fights than even she had in her years since joining the war and with much less qualifications or experience. Where others would've floundered for words he knew just what to say even while under pressure or even fighting, he'd saved his own village from a Bijū and another from a Kage-level threat power-wise, and survived being a supporting fighter in a battle between the three Sannin!

Finally, came the time that she sent him a letter of thanks. As unexpectedly as he had been in every situation she'd read about he reacted in a way no sane ninja would think to.

He sent a letter back and by messenger ninja no less.

That started a chain of letters that she used to pull as much information as possible about his village from him, most of it was unintelligible garbage but with every letter sent where he had gone through a new adventure left her with clues for places that could be looking for treaties with fellow friends of Naruto. Not only that but they began to breathe life back into her boring days, excitement over what new adventure she would hear about began to take hold and after a point she'd started writing about her own days.

It was therapeutic to her. Letters with no respect, no political work, no economical projections, it was paradise.

"What's up Mei?" Naruto asked while attempting to follow her pace, he may look older but his feet were still a bit short to keep up with an excited Kage. "Are we going somewhere secret?"

Mei shook her head, the silence must've confused him. "No, I'm just thinking about some things." A thought crossed her and unseen by her friend a smirk tugged at her lips. "I know just where to go."

Naruto raised a brow curiously but simply followed in her wake. He didn't know his way around anyway so why try to lead?

* * *

><p>"Here we are!" Mei announced as she slowed to a stop and let go of Naruto's arm.<p>

Naruto stared up at their destination with a blank face, merely staring for the longest time before his mouth finally opened. "Mei…this is a bakery. We just ate." He liked sweets as much as the next guy but he just ate and ran a mile! He was already having trouble forcing his food to stay down!

Mei scoffed. "There is always time for cake."

"I'm already about to throw up what I just ate!" Naruto complained.

Mei blinked in shock, then remembered that Naruto may be a ninja of arguably high calibre but he was still just a kid. "Oh." A pause. "More cake for me then."

Naruto stared after his friend as she went into the bakery even without him. _What the hell?_

"…ah…"

"…?" Naruto looked around for the small voice, which was getting larger.

"…Ah!"

Left? No. Right? No. Forward? No. Behind? No.

"Ah!" Naruto looked above himself, to find a guy that looked about his age about to crash on top of him.

"Oh sh-" *Crash!*

XXX XXX

Mei turned around with a small piece of cake in her hands, looking out the window as Naruto was crashed down upon by… "Chojuro?" Confusion flashed across her face before she realized what must've happened.

Ao must've found out about her leaving sooner than she'd thought. Funny because she based the timing off of how perverted Naruto stated for his teacher to be, going out of her way to post her most beautiful kunoichi on the path. It must've taken a lot of will to walk away from that, she knew how beautiful some of her ninja were.

Still, she walked out of the bakery while idly undoing the **Transformation** on herself and picking up the two boys. _I'm going to have a long…talk…with Ao when I get back._ She promised herself.

Only a meal and some cake before her good day was violently interrupted. She was not happy in the slightest.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, good chapter. I explained some stuff that could've happened to Tazuna if he became a technical daimyo and ally to a ninja village, why Mei would be interested in being friends with Naruto, and how Naruto's actions reflect upon him to foreign countries.<strong>

**How did I do? Good? Bad?**


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